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TRACKING XMASS TREES 2011

2011-11-30T13:45:00.010-05:00

I arrived at _______ (a big box store which will remain anonymous) in time to see a large portion of their garden empty. blank isles were lined with curious cement block pyramids ready for the 2011 shipment of Xmass trees. . .my timing was perfect to document one season of our most conspicuous consumer symbols -- the Xmass trees. They arrive in mass to the market and then disappear. we create whole temporary forests growing in parking lots, which we ritualistically tear down, only to have crop up again next year.

for a few januaries in a row, I noticed a mountain of dried up Xmass trees piling up behind _____ (a different big box store which will remain anonymous). I made a note of this--wanting to document it some day. we live through this incredible annual public process of cutting, marketing, selling, bringing into our homes, and then throwing away "evergreen" trees. given a new context of greater Earth awareness (weather change, earthquakes, volcanoes, deforestation, ozone depletion, etc, etc. . . ) this major american tradition reveals some important aspects of how our relationship with nature is f-cked up. perhaps this is a tradition that needs to be secularized and twisted into an act which upholds society's new respect for trees, plants & forests . . . instead of repeating a blind ritual which unconsciously instills the disappearance of our beloved natural environment. ( it's an outrageously idealistic proposal. . .but not entirely impossible )

. . .stay tuned. I will be adding photos & content as we move through the process this year. . .

END OF "THE MEADOW"

2011-11-26T10:35:00.008-05:00

for two years I have tended a meadow in the empty lot next to my house. I do not own this property, but have been making art there for three years. In reaction to some intolerance towards public art in my neighborhood, I built a custom billboard which which was a nice companion piece to the wild garden. I live on a very public corner of Atlanta. It's a long saga click here if you want to investigate more about the artworks I created here.

alas, a few weeks ago, the property owner showed up with a bobcat and tore down the meadow and the billboard. then sprinkled cement dust on the surface to make a parking lot.

I knew that I was playing with space temporarily and was almost relieved not to have to go through the trouble of a total deinstall. but I wanted to find a way to keep people from actually parking in this space. After some consideration of a series of potential low-impact responses, my friend Crytal and I created a walking labyrinth in the space.

not sure how to maintain it or it I do, is that being too agressive with private property? but the idea of creating surface graphics over unused blocks of property is an idea with a lot of potential. Imagine finding a way to use parking lots as places to walk and contemplate when not filled up with cars. . .

Online curation: THE NATURE OF NEON, the neon of nature

2011-03-14T15:31:00.018-04:00

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Is there nothing less corruptible--or more delicious-- than a flower, a rainbow or a butterfly? Our sense of beauty is rooted in nature.

But our innate attraction to the brief ecstatic colors that only momentarily exist in the real world is reproduced and sustained artificially in order to sell things. As we thirst for color and hope, the advertising industry confuses us. Like lost hummingbirds, we vulnerably respond to ads and signage that glow all night like flowers.

1. Jennifer Steincamp, "Cornering" 2. Daniel Gordon, " July 27" 3. Daniel Gordon, " July 21" 4. Christos Dikeako, "Rhodeodendrons" 5. Mark Borthwick 6. Greg Rose (two images: "Arcadia" & "Promenade") 7. screen pic from the movie "Liquid Sky" (1983) 8. Kevin Schmidt, "Johnson Lake" 9 & 10. Project Eden (a tourist destination in England)

DEATH & OCTOBER online curation

2010-10-20T11:10:00.014-04:00

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1. Sanne Sannes, 60s vintage photograph 2. David Hominal 3. ?? 4. ?? 5. Sanithna Phansavanh "cross water to lose a ghost," graphite on paper 6. Dacula, GA (1915) 7. Public Ad Campaign, "video tape" 8. indian mound/railroad (1876), Macon-GA 9. ??

THE URBAN OUTSIDE

2010-09-01T10:17:00.006-04:00

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1.Maplewood Mudflat, a notorious Vancouver squat photographed by Tom Burroughs * note--an artist movement emerged here, responding to the suburbanization of the city in the 70s . 2. pothole planting in Mexico (an act of guerilla gardening) 3. Stephen Shore, U.S. 97, South of Klamath Falls, Oregon, July 21, 1973, 2002 4. Thomas Glassford 5. Agnes Denes, Wheatfield, A Confrontation 1982. 6. Momo (street art) 7. ?? 8. Cristina Lucas 9. Agnes Denes, Forest 10. Arte Sella sculpture park, in an Alpine valley high above Borgo Valsugana, Italy.

. . .EVEN PARADISE online curation 7-27-10

2010-07-27T11:33:00.015-04:00

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1. Paul Wackers 2. Secret of Kells (animation still) Directed by Tomm Mooree, Nora Twomey 3. Alice Aycock, Sand/Fans, from Islands Never Found, Contemporary Art Center of Thessaloniki, Greece. 4. Loren Swerd, Gordon St. 5. Adolf Wolfli 6. Chen Chieh-jen, Empire's Borders II - Western Enterprises, Inc. (courtesy Redcat, LA). 7. Vermont State Flag (1880s, w/ desire to secede from the union) 8. Bamboo Charlie's parallel universe, Liz O. Baylen, Los Angeles Times.

"LIVING ROOMS & LOBBIES" ONLINE CURATION 6.4.2010

2010-06-05T15:17:00.021-04:00

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1. Alex Turnbull, / selected from his found photo site "googlesightseeing" 2. Mark Shetabi, Caspian Sea Hilton, oil on linen 3. Ji Lee, Parallel World 4. Helga-Steppan 5. Guatamala Sinkhole 2010

EMPTY SIGNAGE

2010-05-24T13:28:00.006-04:00

This most remarkable sign can be seen on Dekalb Ave, near Lenny's. It's an egg that glows at night. . .a profound, cosmic shape, presented publicly in an urban setting. . .not a word on it.

I love art like this.

online curation "FAMILY OF (hu) MAN"

2010-05-11T12:57:00.056-04:00

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Today, I found the new york times "lens" project online. It mediates the power of mining photographs online. Like the imagery one can cull from a google image search, the results are charmingly "common denominator," but authorized by a media behemoth.

I like their term: "visual journalism." The premise is that average people around the world post visuals that make up an overall report. What an opportunity. I spent about an hour and a half traveling around the world looking at the collection of cheerful snapshots, in search of real grit, real politics, real photo journalism from the populace. Today's online curation is from this source.

As expected, the usual tropes endure: pets, landmarks (the golden gate bridge is very popular), centered family photos, mother and child sleeping, flowers, cute children, romantic landscapes, spiderwebs wet with dew, church gatherings. Most of it the self-censoring propaganda of world wide happiness. You find a similar ilk of imagery on Facebook.

However, to my surprise, there exists an additional, albeit very thin, layer of political statment. I detected a small current of individuals publishing slightly more realistic snapshots (. . .I mean, there are some pretty serious things going on out there in the world--but by the tone of this imagery is quite romantic). Most notably, I found countless representations of homeless people world wide, some floods and oil rigs. From russia, I found some melancholic statements and moody individual portraits. In no way did I see all images available. . . this is a first impression. enjoy!

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1.laurie Morrison, California 2.Los Gatos, California 3.Maja Hitij, Jordan 4.Dong Kil park 5.Doha-Qatar 6.California 7.Whitebluff,Tennessee 8.Unionville, Indiana 9.Marcus (photographer), OHIO 10.Students-Islamic Universityn of Technology, Gazipu 11.Barbara Jani, Texas 12.Kurt, South Korea 13.Nepal (text says something about it being a very poor country with an SUV fantasy) 14.Gali Tibbon, jeruselum 15.Laith Al Majali, Jordan 16.Marwan (photographer), Bangladesh 17.Moiz Rajkotwala, Dubai 18.MartinAlbrecht, Jakarta, Indonesia

*I tried to take good notes as I did screen captures. . .in some cases there was no name provided or just a penn name. Most photographers wrote captions, some informative, some personal.

Coincidentally, here's the original ad for "Family of Man" 1955 in a vintage magazine. This historic photography exhibition, curated by Edward Steichen, really inspires me. I think this "lens" project is an updated echo of "Family of (Hu)Man."

METEORITE IN WISCONSIN

2010-04-22T19:37:00.012-04:00

I feel emotional after seeing this meteorite footage. It's so pixellated and yet so lovely. Why is seeing more impactful --more of an indicator of reality-- than hearing ?

This peaceful meteorite cascades across rural Iowa. It's an historic event that punctuates a startling series of earth changes world wide. Lot's of people witnessed it. No one was hurt. It's a sign of wonder and hope. It's a wake-up call and a warning. It's a message to pay attention to the sky.

Just since the new year, there have been a hand full of major earthquakes around the world, and now a volcanic eruption in Iceland, which put European flights out of commission for days.

Just this winter we were in Florida. It was too cold to sunbath. . .we read humorous interviews on local media asking Floridians if they believe in global warming? of course, all of them--freezing their asses off--said it's all a load of crap. . .long live capitalism, etc, etc.

Sometimes I feel as if those around me are in a daze. Atlanta is so sleepy and out of touch, hiding under the magnificent dark trees and spirit of Southern denial. There's really so very little analysis on the news.

GOODBYE GREEN

2010-04-20T13:06:00.020-04:00

the neighborhood association of Cabbagetown (intown Atlanta), who refused to allow graffitti to continue on it's lengthy public wall, established a dictatorship of green paint from 2008 to 2010. and now that reign is over. the paint-out color of choice is now back to light gray, to match the wall itself.

ironically, the new color calls attention to the walls' gallery-like quality. . .tantalizing those who would prefer that it allow the tradition of unofficial art. for what is an urban environment without graffiti ? it's a controlled environment, not an organic one. there is a sense of order and authority; its cleanliness broadcasts a message: only approved expressions of aesthetics allowed here. it's funny because Cabbagetown was a place for poor people for many decades. it's squalor and geographical isolation due to the wall actually allowed it's residents the freedom to keep their houses and yards any way they pleased. . .and this led to a certain quirkiness, gave it's New Orleanian shotgun architecture character and ultimately made it desirable as real estate. . .alas, so it is with gentrification.

For two years now, residents who had enjoyed the urban flavor of the ever-morphing graffitic expression, had to endure a sort of oppressive presence of cheerful green paint and gung-ho gentrifiers, smug to win an aesthetic battle over shared space. the 1/2 mile stretch of wall, previously famous for its art, was guarded daily by an aggressive former homeless man; he never let a mark stay for more than a day or two and physically attacked anyone he caught attempting. it is not entirely clear whether neighborhood funds were spent on his employment.

the hallmark green paint-outs migrated to abandoned buildings and even dumpsters nearby. the pollyannas marked the neighborhood in an imperialistic manner not unlike the graffiti they wished to erase. meanwhile, down the street in the next neighborhood over, Reynoldstown encouraged graffiti and now has a most incredible wall of public art. thankfully, that graffiti is not too tight, not overproduced as a lot of prescribed graffiti can be. (some urban places have taken a similar permissive approach to graffiti. . .see article in the New York Times on Caracas, Venuzuela & graffiti.)

(The Renoldstown wall)

(an abanonded house in Reynoldstown that is covered by graffiti. . .pretty awesome public art, if you ask me.)

I do like the whitish gray better than the green. it disappears more. but I also can't wait to see what appears on the fresh walls.

MINERS online curation 4-4-2010

2010-04-06T12:19:00.022-04:00

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1. Krysten Cunningham, "RGB fetish" 2. Peggy Honeywell 3. Peggy Honeywell
4. Chris Marker 5. Simon Frost 6. the Underground Coal Miners
7. John Beech "coated drawing" 8. Superstudio (!)

ONLINE CURATION#3: "Chandeliers of Spring"

2010-03-30T11:49:00.021-04:00

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1. Sean Abrahams (local) 2. Teresita Ferdandez ("Drawn Waters") 3. Lee Bul
4 &5. Bruno Taut (!) 6. Gregory Euclide
7. amazing italian-science fiction installation 8. Paper Twins (local)

"USA" 1-20-2010 (first online curation)

2010-02-18T15:33:00.009-05:00

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1.)NICHOLAS VENAGLIA 2.) COLIN MONTGOMERY 3.)CHRIS ENGMAN 4.suburban bombing (SORRY--DIDN'T GET THE ARTIST NAME!!) 5.) BRENDAN FOWLER

"NEON INDIANS"online curation 2-14-2010

2010-02-17T13:31:00.008-05:00

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1) MARI EASTMAN, 2) CHRIS JOHANSON from KATHY GRAYSON's site, 3) CLARE ROJAS, 4) DANA DART-MCLEAN, 5) DAVID SHRIGLEY

SMALL TOWN GAMBLING

2010-01-16T19:28:00.006-05:00

went to a family wedding in january, which was bizarre enough on its own. . .( I contend that artists don't have to get married. . .because everytime you have a solo show, you are the bride! . . .plus you don't have to wear that stupid white dress : ) anyhow, adjacent to the hotel was a really strange casino. . .open 24 hours. all day and night interesting characters trailed in and out through a side elevator. finally my husband, a few cousins and I went to check it out. it was dark with funny corporate lighting. it was a labrinth of bar stools that sat in front of flashing graphics. not a lot of talk.

I kind of fixated on a particular elderly woman shown in this photo. . . decked in pearls and her hair swept up, she unceremoniously gambled at a game called "diamonds."

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH

2010-01-16T19:18:00.005-05:00

I love this clipping. it would make such a great billboard. . .or otherwise large graphic. . .the wooden frame and gold plate is just so classic. . .so corporate. . .

here's the original clipping. . . I like this crop the best, which is an unfortunately unreadable size on this blog.

I often notice those depressing employee-of-the-month photos at the grocery store. . . at Publix they tone the images with an interesting nostalgic brown tint, same wooden frame. . . does anyone ever really feel good about these kind of empty tropes of recognition? compared to celebrity success posted on all the racks at the check-out, these real life success stories seem like a cruel joke. . .

PAINTBALL - ACCIDENTALLY ARTISTIC

2009-11-30T12:35:00.015-05:00

a lot of my friends know I get excited by spaces that are in the process of disappearing. I'll get random calls from people as they drive by a particularly wonderful abaondoned mansion, or mystical disaster site. in a sense they are registering a report with someone who cares.

(on a side tangent: I recently entered a juried show at emory U. it was called something really vague like HOME. . . one of the jurors was high museum curator of photography Julian Cox and I'm sure they made a lot of money in submission fees and all, everybody wanting influencial JC to have a look at their work. at the opening, the jurors bemused how many of the hundreds of submissions were of abandoned houses, and otherwise dystopic architectural spaces. but, they decided not to show any of those. . .too obvious, too cliché. and I thought to myself, well actually these curators have missed an opportunity. maybe they should be listening more carefully to what the majority of image makers were presenting, repetitive and un-original as it may be. what's significant is that the response to a show called "home" was to show photos of foreclosures and abandoned mcmansions. this could have been a way to honor a message from a group of artists, and not just a competition to prize individual vision, as is the 20th cent art tradition. ok tangent over. . .)

so I get a call from Eggtooth (Jeff Dalgren) in the middle of a recent week day, saying that he could see a most amazing flooded field of cars just off the highway in Austell, GA. and, did I want to go back and photograph it? well, this occurred over a very sunny couple of days after a bunch of rain. I imagined the blue sky and fall leaves reflecting off the watery surface around angled old cars. . . I was experimenting with my medium format camera just then. . .so, the timing was just perfect for an art adventure.

we chose the next sunday, and went out to find this strangely aesthetic place just off the highway. as we got on a parallel side street, I recognized the area. . .it is a regular route I take to go to sweetwater (that polluted, wonderful river park just downstream from Atlanta).

when we arrived at the desired location, the water had submerged and the field of cars, now covered in a dry coat of georgia mud, turned out to be a war set for paintball players.

(caption: "lastcall" featuring Joe "Dirt" Schulten by Freda Jones )

Eggtooth, wearing a camouflage baseball cap and khaki millitary-esque jacket, had chosen the perfect dress code. we parked and walked right into the paintball complex. a multi-racial, friendly group hung out at the snack bar and picnic tables around which were several large fenced-in areas full of paint splattered objects. One area had giant stuffed X's, another was filled with numerous wooden spindle shapes. we went out to the farthest field where there were junk cars, fake buildings and the remnants of an old gas station. the environment, artistically unified in color by the beige layer of dirt and detritus of paintballs, was aesthetically interesting, especially underneath that blue sky. we set out to take a few photos, when an older woman with thick, large circular glasses and a ponytail came by to check us out. I asked to take her picture and we got to talking.

she said she also loves to take pictures and would we like to see them? she pins the best ones up (two of which she gave us). we learned that paintball is an organized sport, played in teams. and we also discovered an outsider artist.

ultimately we were disappointed to find that what we thought was a natural disaster, turned out to be a planned fiction: a mundane set for paintball. But, either way, it was not altogether unrelated to art. . . this is a place that flourishes adjacent to more refined city culture and here it was expressing itself unapologetically, artistically. for one, we both thought paintball as an activity has a lot of potential for painters. that all over this place, there were surfaces being violently decorated with paint. but the sets themselves were wonderful installations, so real and raw. . .so much a product of the hinterlands still chuggin' along outside the borders of a globalizing world civilization, where hunting and warfare are not yet politically incorrect.

we all live inside set designs. we call it architecture and interior design. among many things, intown atlanta is often a fictional suburb of upscale Disneyland, and what we found here was its particularly piquant counterpoint.

STAINED PLACES-- MY TRIP TO EASTERN EUROPE

2009-11-12T12:03:00.029-05:00

I've been likening my trip to the scene in Dead Man (< "jim jarmusch 1995" >) where johnny depp takes a train ride from victorian civilization (cleveland 1850s) to the deep wild west. the people who share the cabin with depp, slowly change in attire and cleanliness, the landscape through the window shows an abandoned pioneer wagon in the forest, and then later, destroyed teepees on a plane. . .the women all disappear. . .until finally, near the end of the line, only gruff men in furry hats crowd over to one side of the cabin to shoot riffles at the roaming buffalo. "government says, killed a million of 'em this year alone. . ." (Crispin Glover).

I always think of American history as being recent and unsettled. (I mean, we removed an entire civilization of American Indians, used slaves and raped a most precious well-taken-care-of land to build our new nation! what have we done about that? ) I think of the american west as being wild, where things are still playing out in the hinterlands, where the seams of society are not so tightly put together.

but clearly, one can still travel east in Europe and find a similar rawness of history being processed in it's hinterlands. my trip from Berlin, Germany through Warsaw, Poland, and ending in Vilnius, Lithuania this fall. . . presented me with another much more recent place where the murder and destruction of the past is still being reconciled. "(see my flicker page )" such is the story of humanity on earth. . . I truly hope we will outgrow this mode of aggression. in the meanwhile, what occurred in eastern Europe in the 40s, is much fresher and just as unsettled as the strong ghosts that linger in our own west. what are the choices a place makes in how it deals with the aftermath of such events? as advances in media technology makes remote places and cloaked atrocities more transparent, perhaps we will eventually have to banish this sort of violence to fiction. . . .

the land in particular plays a role in healing. people must do their part to remember, forgive and move on. . . .(and there's is a danger in strict, swift erasure, which denies processes of remembrance, for it is when a memory is denied that it haunts like a ghost! ) the landscape, especially in more country places, also participates in the healing of past wounds. I believe it is the slow work of forests and open meadows that can disintegrate leftover negative energy signatures.

this reminds me of a forest I discovered in Lithuania, way out in the hinterlands above a very small village. this was a place where thousands were murdered. . .and yet the forest existed in a state of magical softness. clearly there was a sense of healing here.

-kt

beautiful, small mushrooms were abound.

the earth was like a welcoming green carpet. and the air was moist like a hug.

MEDIUM-FORMAT CAMERA my new series of disappeared

2009-10-04T13:42:00.007-04:00

here's the polaroid proof of the building I cannot wait to disappear. . .a new innovation for me, in that I am figuring out how to use a real medium format camera. . .feelz so good and makes a superior image to paint over!

I just love this particular location (scott blvd at cumberland mall) . . .been watching it since spring! it's the perfect size commercial building, so beautiful and petite with it's glass windows and awesome leftover typology. a picturesque showroom in front of an accidental bamboo grove. I especially appreciate the empty car dealerships along our downtrodden highways! these spaces are so symbolic of our dematerializing times. I much prefer them empty. they make a great aesthetic for the future. . . imagine them as roller skating parks, gardened piazzas for outdoor cafes and life music : )

-kt

FRIEND ADMITS TO BAD PUBLIC ART

2009-09-19T17:25:00.012-04:00

I love getting messages from old friends. moving around in childhood did its damage on me. I have tended to just leave the past and the people that populated it behind like some finite fiction. . . but of course, all this silly facebook activity in the last year and half has stirred up a lot of real people I once knew, who are still having their lives. it's really great.

so, the in-flow of old friends continue. . .the latest communication I received was so bizarre, I just have to share it:

I received a random email from an old high school buddy, who is now living in south texas. . .he filled me in on the pertinent details. . .yes, he's balding, has 4 children, two of which are adopted from china. . .and is an artist, too. it all seemed kind of interesting and my heart was warmed that he thought to write, that he remembered my old artistic pranks. I responded immediately. then found another second email from him with just a single line or two, saying he felt like a sell-out artist. I thought that was odd, but was nice and replied, " well, aren't we all sell-outs, as artists, when the market is so unavoidable. . ."

then he wrote to me again. . .to confess, I guess. I uncovered the real reason he emailed: to say that
he was commissioned to do a statue of Laura bush for a library. (!) he rather enjoyed hanging with the bushes. . .nice people and all. I think he remembered my opinionated nature and was fishing. . .or was he being antagonistic. . .how cruel? he and his friends in high school were masters at a sarcastic brand of humor. . .so I do have to wonder.

here was my response:

" 'I was commissioned by a library to produce a statue of Laura Bush '

. . .wow, it took me a moment to recover from reading that. (I see what you mean about selling out. . .WOW. . .) (are you joking?)

. . .today, my boss at my main freelance gig was distressed to discover her sister going to washington to protest obama with a despicable, ignorant group called "americans for prosperity". . .we looked up the website to find obama being compared to hitler . . . (http://www.americansforprosperity.org/national-site). and not that I'm totally happy with obama, but I'm thinking that's totally unfair. just 6 years ago, an fbi agent would haul you away to a prison camp if you published such a thing about old W. . . .no, I have no sympathy for bush, regardless of how complicated a person he is or was, no matter what a friendly guy he is in person. . .he is a criminal! he lied about war. he cheated in the polls. he was a goddamn cowboy puppet for terrible despots who greedily controlled our country. . .and wrecked it pretty damn good. and, he's going to get away with it. . .I remember days when it seemed as if his regime was not going to end but just get more nightmarish, even the new york times was complicit. . . hardly any political protest was heard from the people. we just all shut up and watched more television. . . so much complacency, and ignorance. . .and laura b, seems very much the good ole-fashioned co-dependent, trophie wife. sure, maybe they are nice people . . . but look what they are responsible for. the worst kind of assholes, indeed are the nice ones.

anyhow, what an art resume builder . . .maybe, I hope, you made a double and can place it somewhere remarkable, in a decade or so. . .like at the top of a steaming landfill mountain or something.

ok, I just had to say that. sometimes I cannot even believe we lived through that bullshit right here in america!"

. . . I went on the say nice, sincere things about his family and place of residence. he has not written back. not a peep.

was I too harsh?

would I have taken such a commission? (well, I HATE bronze sculptures! I can barely think of a more despicable kind of middle class public art!, so hopefully the answer is no. . .) but I sell out all the time as a graphic designer. for me the art is where I try not to compromise my creative integrity. but some people I guess don't think they can take that luxury.

very strange encounter. what did I get out of it? a good story, I suppose. . . also I took a chance to articulate my feelings about that old administration. funny, it was only a few years ago, now. how soon we forget!

-kt

GOODBYE MORELAND AVENUE

2009-07-16T10:50:00.019-04:00

4 boarded-up craftsman style cottages have sat lame across from the suburban style shopping center called Edgewood, just south of Little 5pts on Moreland avenue. It's been at least 2 years this way. The only graffiti on the cement bridge nearby is a wheatpaste by local artist R.Land. . . a large graphic of clasp hands which says, "pray for ATL." but plenty of graffiti had accumulated on these 4 houses. . .that is until july 4 th 2009, when they took the first three, leaving one orphaned in public for another 4 days. Until their ultimate point of disappearance, they stood as a large scale unofficial artistic display, a symbol of our ever-changing city.

For now what remains is this staircase. And this is the quintessential (& totally unconscious) public art for atlanta--cement staircases leading to empty lots where a house was removed. Our city is absolutely littered with these particular remnants. Take notice sometime. I think they should all be painted pink or striped yellow, so that they are better marked. . .We should try not lose these wonderful, unobtrusive monuments to the invisible. They are precious breadcrumbs to our recent past.

Here is a house further south on Moreland Ave. . .You can see it's reaching a climax of decoration. Will it be the next to go?

DANCE PARTIES

2009-06-22T15:13:00.004-04:00

this is a good one! (from my collection of 70s, national geographic clippings). would make a great billboard, I think.

alas, photographs and parties. . .they do so rapidly. . .disappear!

DOWSING

2009-06-08T15:44:00.011-04:00

to "dowse" is to focus on something lost or invisible and divine for its location. according to wikipedia, it's a thousand-year-old tradition coming out of germany. we know about it in association with finding well water. but according to the experts, you can dowse for pots of gold, lay lines, underground waterways, lost slippers, unicorns or just use a pendulum like a ouiji board to derive yes and no answers.

currently, I'm having issues with my house. . .or maybe it's just my life. . .kind of hard to tell. I think there are cosmic forces at work and I want to somehow manage it. . .gosh, there's a lot of conflict and hell breakin' loose. a real tornado stormed over it last year in march (see my houseclearing performance in c'town), and many neighbors say that its mark of chaos is still around. why not act to alter the energy of this place, a little freaked out still from natural disaster? perhaps underground waterways and invisible energy currents are having an effect. if the management of such things are pretend, than it's a good performance. . .but I like to believe in such things.

fiction or not, I believe it's important to design mysticism (an acknowledgement of the unknown) into contemporary suburban reality. (an interesting match, and, perhaps, a natural progression).

so, in search of energy experts, I set out to the georgia dowser's monthly meeting in the appropriately named northern suburb of atlanta, roswell. (see new mexico & UFOs). . .a friend forwarded me the ga dowser website with this caveat: "I go just for the theatre. . ."

more coming some day I feel like retelling the story. . . .or you can ask me to tell you sometime in person : )

SUNSETS & OTHER GRAPHICS

2009-05-20T12:16:00.004-04:00

this is a clipping from a newspaper advertisement, where sunsets are about as commonplace as yellow graphic bursts.

I once saw a billboard when travelling in florida. . .it said:

"We'll sell you a sunset!"

. . .in brush script!

COUNTRY VS SUBURBS, WHO WILL WIN?

2009-05-08T11:10:00.023-04:00

I have a graphic design press check that takes me way out into the western suburbs of atlanta about every two months or so. . .

I drive 20 minutes up the big interstate and exit into a scourge of brand new development, temporarily slowed by economic downturn. I am quite familiar with such sites, for this is the kind of transitional locale that I grew up in. areas like this are filled with a sense of passive non-place. The old countryside environment is defenseless to erasure; it is removed in neat square chunks by an oddly opposite, big box commercialism. Such development, now somewhat passé in urban centers, still attempts to multiply out here, but the country roots remain. . .stand side by side with the new emerging artificial environment. it reminds me of how such places COULD be developed in a radically different way. who knows. . .if the economy continues to collapse, these places may stand a chance.

. . .I found an old cemetery across the street from a walgreens shopping plaza. a dirt road veers from lines of traffic into a shady vertical strip of contemplative land. this beautiful empty lot is preserved for the dead. it's full of buttercups, grassy shade and fake flowers on turn-of-the-century stone graves.

down the road are lovely meadows, cleared a few years ago and now in bloom, with blue plastic pipes poking up and capped for future construction. old houses sit empty and overgrown with vines, awaiting removal

. . .no bother hanging for sale signs here. . . these are ghost scenes of the future.

everytime I drive out here, there is a tremendously appealing series of parkinglots that sit on the crest of a hill. I can see this awesome empty place--grassy and decorated with graffiti--well from the highway.

on this particular trip, I attempted to locate it, getting on an access road. but alas, it disappeared. . . .I did however find a very cool commercial building--an old "LA FITNESS" center. the landscaping is old enough to have grown in, making a really gardenesque parking lot!. . .and this reminds me just how great repurposing such a site could potentially be.

my imagination takes me away. I think of the movie set. . .you know where subculture freaks hold meetings and black-market deals at the back. . .

(here's the back of the place. . .pretty seedy)

but also I think of the subterranean garden that could be carved out of the entrance area. . .and also the tremendous roof-top garden. in some kind future, this would be a hang out with a small stage and designed green space. . .where you'd find sculptured shrubs, birds, weeping willows and lovers holding hands. . .why not?

SUBURBAN AVANT-GARDE

2009-04-16T13:12:00.019-04:00

. . .MY VISIT TO ARTIST E.K.HUCKABY'S COUNTRY DOMAIN IN SUBURBAN ATLANTA. . .

artists certainly can create the illusion of time-travel. there's a certain brand of artist that picks the pockets from the past and recreates a living alternative world, immune for as long as the artist lives, from the realities of the mainstream. and I dare say such artists are very precious librarians. . . that present a carefully designed past.

there's something of 1910 in huckaby's place, as well as something deeper from a 19th century southern countryside. there are overarching tones of asia, and also the brutality of body in this magical fiction e.k. huckaby lives inside. on Huckaby Rd, he shares the country-ish block with mcmansions, and subdivisions named "the chimneys," yet e.k. roams 30 acres of land, planting groves of bamboo. here, he stubbornly holds back time. . .thank god there are people like him.

. . .and he's open for visits. we had coffee in his kitchen as music boxes were somehow amplified throughout the house. the windows were open, blowing off the dust from a lot of encrusted objects, including photographs and paintings.

I was surprised to find out he actually grew up in the suburbs. I now better understandand why, perhaps he was attracted to expound into, artistically, this other bygone southern lifetyle. I, too, am a product of those historyless, identityless suburbs, and tend to fictionalize pasts as a result.

lots of good books around, stately shelves are made from cut up doors and installed in the dark central hallway. . he has a clever code: vertical books, he's read, horizontal ones are yet unread. his bedroom is painted the most wonderful dusty purple, with black trim. . .his bed sits in the center of the room surrounded on the walls by a collection of funerary photographs, most of them turn of the century. ( amazing! )

as we walked through the woods looking for sprouting bamboo, I said something about the layers of memory this place must have for him. . .he retorted that not all of them are so romantic. . . he remembered hogs being hung from that tree there, being disemboweled.

his manner is gentle and patient, but his objects present sharper edges, a morose love of age . . .I relate. I also see a sense of humor there. . .and, of course a refreshing fearlessness of mortality. I think he enjoys sneaking up on you in this subtle way. he's confident. he has all the time in the world.

here is a quick list of objects that left an impact: bones, a real placenta under glass, stuffed birds, a fox with glasses, decaying paper lanterns, a geometric glass box, a slice of brain wedged beween glass, saws, teeth, a lot of white rocks in piles, a stack of black books about myth and the devil, a girl with a candle inside a large glass lantern, a real maxfield parrish print, busts and clocks, a wax telephone on red velvet in side a plexiglass box, a resin-thick painting of a thousand lamps, boxing gloves, seeds.

I asked him if he was a theosophist or spiritualist. he said, he has his own version of theosophy. . . (note to self: ask him about that on the next trip to wonderland.)

here's a really great interview robert cheatham did with e.k.

URBAN CENTERS = "CORPORATE HUBS"

2009-04-02T12:40:00.012-04:00

"several factors make widespread revolt less likely today. Our cities are no longer dense, overcrowded industrial centers where unionized laborers and disgruntled strikers might take a public stand. Concentrated inner-city poverty has declined, too, so don’t expect 1960s-style ghetto unrest."

Our urban centers are instead corporate hubs and the victims of this recession include hundreds of thousands of white-collar workers. For obvious reasons, these folks tend not to have the particular sense of grievance — that a select few are receiving preferential treatment, that they’re on the losing end of a rigged game — that usually sets off a conflagration."

-FROM
Feeling Too Down to Rise Up
(Op-Ed -new york times)
By SUDHIR VENKATESH
March 29, 2009

(photo courtesy of isolina)

but of course the writer is an established new yorker (columbia u, new york times, etc. . .), he seems quite nostalgic for the kind of urbanity places like new york city used to provide. he nails it when he demeans today's urban centers to "corporate hubs."

(interesting to note, that this was published just days before the "Financial Fools day" G-20 protests in London, which seemed to contractict this. . .)

another related note: I've been watching new york chef and food critic anthony bordain's "no reservations" on dvd. . . the most recent episode went to las vegas, where bordain just freaks out over a commercialized replica of his home city inside some casino: new york city converted into a "T.G.I. McFriday's," he complains. . . (and as he walks through "venice" he calls it: "gondolas in swimming pools inside a mall". . .) . . .in the end, he states sadly to the camera:

it may seem as though las vegas reproduces new york city, but actually its more like. . . new york city is becoming las vegas. . .

(and the removed las vegas is in a sign graveyard for tourists)

alas, from two new yorker's points of views, A+ American cities are not the edgy cultural-political wonderlands of yore. . . so it makes you wonder, then is there really no one gathering physically for dissent, and also for counterculture experience, as this author worries out loud? are there really not enough numbers for resistance to the monoculture?

i really doubt it.

perhaps as the "public" gets more pervasive online, and urban centers only hubs of glassed-in safety. . .the subcultures must become more secret, and more remote. perhaps it's not the urban centers which will provide the space for these gatherings. . but the wildernesses (in all senses of the word. . .) interesting.

-kt

WINDOW WORLD

2009-03-25T11:11:00.014-04:00

(FOUND PHOTO, courtesy Misty Harper, great collector of objects and fictions. . .)

"Window World" is a fantastic logo I once saw on the side of a truck. Plenty banal, it advertised a window company, eager to install professional sturdy windows in homes and businesses world wide. . .

but, I thought the phrase was brilliant. . .it fits a larger understanding of our shared reality which is becoming quite imprisoned inside windows. we live our lives inside. . .but gaze outward through computer screens, windshields, bay windows, glass houses, corporate buildings, the endless lenses of cameras, etc. . .and I suppose a problem with that sort of 2-dimensional exterior, is that it can be so easily manipulated. we start to believe the screen version. . .or the image projected inside the window, instead of going out there to see (and touch) for ourselves. we become fearful and disconnected with the actual outside, and yet in love with it from an unconsummated distance. . .fiction is more dramatic and exciting than hard-knocks reality, anyway. who would want to live outside, unprotected. . . staring inward with the rest of the derelicts on the other side of the glass?

In an interview about his new book called The Disappearance of the Outside , Andrei Codrescu spoke to the same idea . . .that we now live in the interior. surprisingly, Codrescu traces our migration to the interior to the 1970s. but, I thought this migration was directly related to the introduction of the internet. curiously, when you look at the visual fiction of the 70s, the wildness and nature are very present (e.g . . .). that's interesting.

(more later. . . . . . . . .)

ACCIDENTZ

2009-03-14T14:39:00.008-04:00

I believe that time (a rather flexible material) is moving faster than ever before. . .due to many reasons including the advancement of communications technologies, we move through shared time together at a speed that is now faster than logic.

this is the reason I think the industrial age is entering a new re-spiritualized phase. to flow with the pace of the global mainstream, one must stay light and mobile. that's in attitude and in material weight. to take the time to consider things, to follow the rigors of logic, is very expensive in time. time spent this way must be strategic in our new superspeedy reality. those who do well, can change on a dime, readjust to new situations rapidly, make wise decisions on the spot. . .and, this style of living, I believe, is done best with a keen sense of intuition. increasingly people must feel their way through--no time to weigh the choices carefully.

with everyone rushing about, socializing and responding instantly at all times, travelling at breakneck speeds, able to change directions like psychotic atoms in cyberspace, constantly updating how things are done, keeping track of what everyone else is doing through our new society of cameras and channels of communicaitons. . .it's no wonder there are a proliferation of accidentz.

ironically, as we achieve unprecedented control over the world through technology, we also spin easily out of control and CRASH alot.

this is not a bad thing, aside from the pains and shocks of collisions. an accident is a moment when things stop or slow down after an explosive shock. it is a most raw, human and honest moment. . .it sobers things up. . .it makes a mark in time (a scar, perhaps). it reminds us of our mortality . . .of the power of things beyond our control (like nature) . . .and also of our own carelessness.

accidentz are not new. they have always been a sexy spectacle of the industrial revolution. look at the picture above: a famous crash in victorville, CA 1968, "topless mother of eight" is decapitated. this is my copy of the police photograph. I have altered it to remove the accident from the landscape. . .an act of geographic healing.

THEORY OF OBJECTS

2009-03-06T15:11:00.011-05:00

are you someone who leaves drawers open?

(cabinets, books, etc.)

I am.

what does that say about a person? . . .I like to leave a room with all the drawers ajar. someone might think I'm mad.

the kitchen. . .the studio. I want to leave a place and think. . .there's something left here for me to go back to. . .I don't want to close up anything from my sight which I haven't fully mined through. . . keeping options open, made literal.

what am I looking for and have not found? not sure. . .
but sometimes I have a heart attack, when I open a good drawer.

how good is my magic today?

(**LIBRARY OF OBJECTS**)

LOCAL VS PROVINCIAL

2009-03-02T11:10:00.030-05:00

provincial: a person of local or restricted interests or outlook b: a person lacking urban polish or refinement

at a kkprojects opening event during new orleans' first biennial I had an intense conversation with an art professional who lives between berlin and new york city. while he enjoyed several $7 cocktails composed of aged vinnegar, champagne and some other herbal specialties, he espoused how atlanta will never have an art scene because of it's provincialism.

at first, I listened and agreed. atlanta (where I live) is a very conservative, small town for an urban population of nearly 5 million. it's a cultural suburb (with real strip malls, parking lots and sprawl), whose main concern is corporate business. however, our social elite wish to be ranked with other national fine art clubs and thus support conventional "arts." there's a small wild music scene (centered around celebrity low-browsers deerhunter & the blacklips). but, as far as art goes, the ATL receives second-hand artistic franchises, authority figures and hits from other places with submissive excitement. the high is our greatest museum, architecturally. it's a wonderful white whale of a building designed by richard meier and filled with fluffy populace programming for women with strollers, busloads of students and the genteel, looking for light afternoon entertainment. they are herded in and their ears are stuffed with the voices of electronic guides. I have witnessed it all too many times: the interior galleries of the main shows, filled with lines of single filed visitors, shuffling silently clockwise along the walls.

even the most highly regarded commercial art galleries here (Saltworks, Get This!, Whitespace, Marcia Wood, Solomon Projects), must go elsewhere to receive creditation, get inspired and make money. if you want to go to core artistic sources of our times, see experiments, deviations from norms and new daring developments, you'll need to hop on a plane or lurk online. and if you practice art here, you'll need to comply gracefully with these values and your place in the world as a lesser practitioner. . .or develop an inflated, uninformed sense of self worth, rejecting the locals' fear and judgement at anything that doesn't imitate these accepted mainstream norms. a strange kind of provincialism, indeed. this is a provencialism that focuses not on local indigenous culture, but instead limits itself to a gentler version of other urban cultural standards.

so is the fate of being in a submissive cultural city in a time of globalization.

but, then I began to disagree with that art professional quite a lot . not only did he condescend to atlanta, but he also condescended to new orleans "locals," as well. I could agree about atlanta, but new orleans?. . .it has one of the most original independent cultures in this country. like any outsider art culture, there might be some clueless, distracted, lazy or just plain disappointing art practitioners there. . . but I'd dare say, that as a contemporary context for artistic practice, new orleans is one of the few places right now that still has the spirit to sustain a dynamic art movement like what happened in crusty, edgy, abandoned soho of the 50s. it became apparent to me that this art professional knew it. he was hunting for the next untapped art place to colonize and domesticate.

the thing is. . .unlike ATL, new orleans cannot be tamed. that is what makes this southern, provincial development, a most precious locale. my friend john otte (artist & lover of new orleans) says, the swamp will always win. the tropicalistas put it another way. . .they saw their jungle culture accept european modernism, a global thirst in the 60s. their philosophical response was to become cannibals. the jungle and its people would eat everything (all in-coming new cultures) and survive as a unique hybrid and not an obedient colony culture. so. . .with great hope, I am watching new orleans and do intend to participate in it at this fertile time.

so there is a conundrum to the values of being local. in environmental terms it's a positive. grow your own vegetables, walk and bike around your daily routine, understand your local politics, beliefs, practices, history, architecture, weather patterns, etc. and when you focus on this, you start to understand the unique character of your place and how to thrive in it, how to build on it. we cannot forget the finite physical place that a single human being can touch for real. but this approach of localism is at odds with the idea and ambition of globalization. there's the term glocal. which is the hybrid of the two values. . .but there are still very strong pejoratives associated with being a "local."

it's essential at this time to look out there at the globe, try to be aware of powerful cultural monocultures via technological means, try to understand your relationship with it. this does not mean everyone must strictly align with dominant global culture without resistance, without pockets of strong localisms. . . perhaps in time we will resusitate that bad word "provincialism" and twist it into naughty gold.

there's a practical, economical aspect to localism / provincialism. to travel and be culturally global, takes a lot of resources (money, time & control). those who are economically challenged, cannot really be globally active, for they must stay in one place to work and take care of the mundanities. but such local people pretend non-the-less to be part of the global community by following the trends promoted to them via various media channels. will skepticism and resistence to this media-maintained monoculture always connote naivete, ignorance, ludditity. . .poverty?

THE GOLDEN AGE OF GARBAGE

2009-02-23T12:05:00.007-05:00

as my husband and I walked through sweetwater park yesteday, we noticed a lot of garbage tangled in the rocks and winter branches along the water's edge. this is a divinely beautiful place. it's a bandaid we use to place over our craving for deeper woods. as a space, it offers a modicum of personal reflection to soul-weary city dwellers.

sweetwater park has running through it a giant urban river with rocks that look like petrified tree trunks. on days when the water's low, you can walk out across the broad width of it. but despite it's magnificence, it also carries a negative charge. friends warn us not to swim in the waters, for it's downstream from the big city and therefore extremely polluted. people get sick after touching it. there's a corpse of a giant cotton mill whose bricks were made by slaves. we passed "lynch st." on the way in. we've started to notice a population of gray herons hanging around the small rapids. they are immigrants from more southern places and have somehow acclimated to the colder waters. this environment makes for a rather bizarre mix of nature and human history, of healing in the midst of residue. visits here often become symbolic for us.

this time (2.22) garbage was the theme of our visit.

everyone I know is liquidating. Dimitri Orlov recommends that in seriously downturned economic times, it's better to have physical goods than cash stored away in banks. if the currency is devalued, you can always trade, sell or make good use of your things. . .in extreme cases, you can burn them for heat, or pick through them for nutrients. . .

high captialism created stockpiles of wasteful things, which are now being shaken down and freed up at unprecedented rates. All this junk now floods the independent markets for repurposing. As starving artist types we know what to do in such a golden river of junk and disorder. . .this is a golden age of sorts.

("starve:" it's only a relative term for us americans. . . it may mean no ipods, no cable tv, no new cars or designer clothes, meager travel. . .unrenovated living quarters, vintage computers and outdated operating systems, gardens in empty lots. . .we're make-do citizens but are quite artsy in how we fashion our junk and make use of our free time. . . and we're inclined to survive quite well these next couple of years.)

21st CENTURY FOLK ART

2009-02-13T14:07:00.041-05:00

I seem to be using the term a lot lately:“21st century folk.” it becomes more and more useful as a category when talking about my artistic peers. (why is that?)

21st Century Folk Art is particularly prevalent out here in the cultural suburbs, and in the global south. . .this artwork is passed by or does not necessarily seek out international acclaim, sophistication, or expensive hi-tech prowess. . . it lays back a pace or two. it doesn't bother to play hardball with exclusive high art games. lt simply cannot or will not compete . It's a southern cousin to lowbrow, grand niece to brut art. more a voice from the dropped-out, consciously retarded zone, not necessarily poor, rural and black anymore. . .but indeed, still from the edges where the shamans live and cannot keep quiet.

it is persistently produced with independent verve and truely unique identity, made from artists outside the institutionalized networks of success. work like this is free to be spiritual, local, sloppy, dirty, derivative, inexpensive, irreverent, or naive, . it finds an audience among the uninitiated, underprivileged who are unaware , or disenfranchised with greater art trends. often charming, meaningful and also godawful! . . .it’s expressiveness can cut through despite the odds and the abandonment of its maker. In this genre of art, crudeness or rawness works to the artists' advantage, being so rarely valued elsewhere. of course, it's been exploited before (see lowbrow, see souls grown deep, see quilts of gee's bend ) I find this sort of art tantalizingly traditional. there will always be creatives who choose this path. it's a non-plused response to the intimidating multitudes of art being professionally produced and promoted in the leisurely 21st century.

This folk art is different from that which was coined in the 20th century. now it would be extremely rare to find artists totally unaware of the global fine art developments. these artists are self impowered and not waiting around for the next william arnett to peddle their work. In fact, 21st century folk artists are in defiance to global fine art monoculture! (fuck that.) You don't have to live in a country shack and see god in your fingers to be an outsider artist these days. but you might live in the suburbs, be over 35, hold a day job, live with your mother, make work in some already discovered style about already covered ideas.

atlanta still produces fine bumper crops of contemporary folk artists.

here are some local artists who continue to plug away at what I might consider 21st century folk--some practice it high and some low : anne cox, benjamin jones, eula ginsburg, don cooper, lisa kemp, allison rentz, r.land, eggtooth, woody cornwell, myself?, some graffiti artists? let me know who I've missed.

(the image at the top is from a parking lot performance that allison rentz and I did on Black friday in 2007.)

WILD HORSES

2009-02-11T09:51:00.014-05:00

wild horses are a prevelent symbol found in advertising. pictured here is a clipping of a real estate logo. it's use is perfectly ironic . I painted out the words, to focus on the image separate from the commercial context.

wild horses are a world-wide symbol for freedom and thrusting energy. . .only when captured by humans, do they turn into a conquering/war-like picture. harness-less, wild horses are a symbol very much being hoarded by america. cowboys, open plains, freely roaming animals. The east has dragons. . .and the west has horses (I think we have won temporary ownership of "horses" as our symbol over the previous owners, the monguls-ancient wild horse men from central china/russian/persia. they owned it for a good while).

I am in love with this symbol--wild horses. . .and I am not alone. . .as we gentrify our contemporary existence, tear the wildernesses from our reality and banish them to the past, we mythologize the wild things and freeze them in imagery for all time. . .it's like taking a graphic picture of something that has disappeared--not on an individual basis, but on a larger cultural scale. when things make their transition from historical stories based in reality to full-blown myth, they become exaggerated, larger than life images. I imagine there will be billboards on the moon with pictures of wild horses on them. . .that's how much we love the image ( and not the reality of) wild horses.

HORSES N' RAINBOWS

2009-02-11T09:16:00.012-05:00

craig dongoski, a favorite professor & brilliant mad man once said: as symbols, rainbows, butterflies and flowers are practically incorruptible. and I agree.

I would add a few more to that. . .hummingbirds and wild horses are some of my favorite symbols . . .right up there with diamonds : )

why do these images conjur up wonderment in our human hearts? I think it's their temporary unsustainable natures. such incredible beauty and swift powerful energy can only burst into this world for fitful moments. . .and cannot stay very long. as far as the smaller things. . .the flowers and the butterflies. . .their lives are short and sweet. but the memory of their presence stay with us forever. . .they remind us of that part of earth's magic reality.

IMMIGRANTS

2009-02-04T19:37:00.015-05:00

Here is a working woman from the 1980s. . .her shiny desk is oddly void. a non-digital clock sits on the wall (something leftover from the factory, perhaps). there's no computer, no ipod, no video phone. . .she operates with a landline, a rolodex, a can of pens and real paper with actual text printed on it. . .perhaps only the coffee is a consistency with the work place of now. . .

I have a bit of a fetish for images of working women this is a favorite clipping of mine. she seems so independent, so ingrained in her professionalism. . .the family photos loom guiltily behind.

this reminds me of a strange piece of podcast I heard just the other day. . . this report called those born into the web world "native." those who remember life before the web are "immigrants." putting those of a certain age and socio-economic rank on the outside of our shared homeland. I wonder. . .did they call those who lived before television immigrants? I think it is foolish not to honor those who bore precious witness to the transition of reality with the web, and also those still just discovering it. . .to call them immigrants is a strange dis. . . but this term may not stick. it could be the insecurity of the reporters, themselves immigrants by this definition, their own uneasiness with this new place revealed. . .

(yet another example of the endless reportage on our new culture, always accompanied with clever words. . .there's something about the year 9 of any decade. . .it's the year our identity kicks in. this year, it's hitting us how 15 years with the internet has altered our lives. publications are filled with pop culture anthropologists joining in the awakening.)

"MEATSPACE"

2009-01-31T16:03:00.011-05:00

I ran across it today. . .the word "meatspace." I thought it might be a crudely titled online network for desperate singles . . .but on the contrary. it's a cyber-nerd term for good old fashioned physical reality.

such a derogatory reference. is it a dangerous sign. . .that those people who prefer online reality are falling out of love with the physical earth? or on the contrary. . .does this foretell a near future of deep meatspace-- abandoned by mainstream human activity--and therefore becoming a valulable refuge for robust formations of consciously disconnected, earth-lovin' subcultures? hard to know.

I read just the other day, that jungles are taking back countryside in lots of third world places. . .because of a recent migration pattern to urban centers. and some developers are seeing it as evidence that wilderness conservation is no longer needed. . .curious propaganda, indeed.

pictured here is another good sign . . . I found this one deep in the countryside of northern new mexico (2008), one of my favorite physical places on earth. "hilarious that it says, back by popular demand" because it doesn't seem there is a human population living here at all. . .or perhaps I am mistaken.

BELLS OF DESIGN

2009-01-28T13:43:00.011-05:00

here's a clipping of ford's nucleon model. pretty cool design. would make a great maglev (magnetic levitation) road jet.

some times I wish cars would disappear! think of all the things we could do with highways and roads if they weren't all clogged up with individual cars.

mitchell joachim wants to design cars that are less machine, more facebook on wheels. (ugh!) . . .his critique of the word sustainability is interesting. he says the idea of efficiency means less bad. . .is not positive or evocative enough a buzzword for people to buy into . . .I'm not sure I agree. we may not buy into sustainability as much as have no other choice but to adhere to it. . . .joachim's bling! is showing through. . .but then again who wants a future that is balanced and bland, without the attractive bells of design. . .?

PETS

2009-01-22T12:55:00.011-05:00

. . . in the first world, we cater to our pets' needs as if they are our children. we buy health insurance for them, we fret over their comfort, tote them around, buy them running water fountains, toys & treats, dress them in baby clothes and kerchiefs. . .just today, I heard over the radio: "did you know that today is national pet dental care day ? " . . .the industry does indeed play on our lonliness, our lack of touch, our distance from the real wilderness, our fear of death, our fear of old age all soothed by the wrinkle-less, speechless, domestic animals. . .as long as they're in good health.

the thing is. . .most pet's have significantly shorter lifespans than us. . .we can be sure that we will encournter death, sickness and old age with them before actually encountering it in the humans that are closest to us.

in light of this. . .it is no surprise that our first domestic robots will be all kinds of designer pets. . .that live as long as we do. . .they just need to get the fur right. . .and it will be a hit.

BILLBOARDS

2009-01-13T10:58:00.007-05:00

billboards are our most common form of public art. and yet advertising hoards up all the billboard space for the purpose of selling things. its ironic how intolerant people are of public art (both official and unofficial kinds). . .yet the public seems completely ok with billboards everywhere.

my friend evan calls them floating walls. (when you endeavor to build one, you must calculate the wind's force on it) . .a good way to think of them.

in some earlier comments I was asked what kind of billboard I would make, if I had the chance. . .well I did have the chance, recently thanks to louis corrigan. I built a small billboard (12'x12') up on my house . . .and so far my neighbors have tolerated it. . .in fact many say they enjoy seeing it. but I was careful, not to make an advertizement. I made a promise to never put any words on it. instead I put a carefully chosen found image. . . .it's quite ambiguous, but still political.

but I do think the best billboards are the old ones, empty or in a state of disarray. before long they will all be video screens, flashing and making noise. . .and these will be relics.

pictured here is a text suggestion from reader, adam bruneau: he thought a billboard should say, "don't buy anything."

ANOTHER GOOD SIGN

2009-01-10T15:19:00.002-05:00

EMPTY SIGNAGE. . .

2009-01-08T11:33:00.006-05:00

I've been engaged in an interesting online discussion among empty sign enthusiasts. . .we've been theorizing about their ubiquity and their deeper meanings. . . .

(pictured here is an old piece of art that DANIEL OSBORNE gave me. . .I glued it into my notebook (2006?) and added a random caption).

here are some links and ideas:

-DELETE art project, suggested by HERMANN ZSCHIEGNER
-architect TIM NICHOLS' collection of empty sign photos

-HIROSHI SUGIMOTO's theatre photos
-ED RUSCHA!

A FEW IDEAS ABOUT EMPTY SIGNS:

-why we do love these empty signs so much? Why does the absence of information have such an appeal?
Maybe because the empty billboard is a sign reduced to a mere signifier, pointing only to its own existence. A classic ready-made. And our "avantgarde trained minds" really respond to that. Can we ever overcome Duchamp? Should we? (hz)

-empty signage indeed appeals to our inner duchampian aesthetics, but it may also appeal to our secret desire for emptiness/ moments of visual rest in our urban/suburban world, smothered in advertising. (kt)

-those empty signs harken to our endtime fantasies. . .evidence that the machine is falling apart. . . the floating walls are left unmanned. (kt)

-there's also that utopian staple (for some anyway): a symbolic tabula rasa --the iconic empty billboard. a blank space at 48' wide. . .the ultimate chance to start the message over. (kt)

BACKING OFF THE SHORES

2009-01-04T16:49:00.007-05:00

Oceans are like airwaves. . .both are incredible resources for everyone to enjoy and respect.

I fantasize about a time when storms, erosion and pointless reconstruction of beachfront property have resulted in a backing off from the shores. . .perhaps there might one day be global beach development policies. . .in most cases builders would be required to avoid all land a 1/2 mile from every shore or at least be restricted to minimal, temporary or eco-minded builds. these beach areas could become precious commercial free wetland/dune zones both private & public. . . they could buffer inland coastal developments from the realities of nature--current 21st century weather instability. existing constructions would be allowed to just lay as deserted corpses, disappearing in the sun and salt.

can you imagine how incredible florida would be if everyone had to walk through the dunes, or the swamps to get to the shore? some areas would have incredible elevated walkways, and of course some plalces would need to provide innovative access for handicapped and the obese (maybe they could ride in eco-airships out to the water. . .)

-kt

ANTHROPOLOGY OF A CHRISTMAS SNAPSHOT

2008-12-29T11:16:00.013-05:00

I just got back from florida. a natural wonderland and also a playground for an interesting breed of materialism. I do think that the more lush the land, the potentially greedier the people. for how or why should humans resist luxury if it is so readily available? and yet. . .in this place all you need are flip flops and a fishing hook to survive. oh, well, so is the fate of beautiful places . . .that they'll be smothered in commercialism.

This is a scan of a christmas card given to my friend skip by his older brother. I think if it survives (and perhaps I have increased its chances) into the future, it will make a good image for art history. I had noticed the photo on that quintessential glass side table of framed photos at skip's dad's. . .snapshots galore, all following strict convention. this one stood out among the bunch of 'em. (later when skip showed me his personal copy, I asked if I could scan it and publish it because I thought it was so exceptional.)

I love the professional lighting combined with the perfect sunset on the beach. the whole family dressed in planned casual white clothing. but it's the expressions on their faces that really make this a valuable image beyond initial family use. this family is oozing confidence and happiness and florida privilege at a crashing moment in history! its rather intoxicating, even if it's fiction. . .and that I'll never know. mom looks fit and beaming, dad too. . .skip said they both worked on their tans in preparation for the photo. but the expression of the children are especially delightful. the little girl's gesture of embrace seems so fresh and authentic. . .it is clear that the youngest boy is indeed dear to her. and yet, if you look at the parent's hand gestures, you can see each is pushing their children into each other for posterity. (I once had a friend who was a life coach. . .I traded some art for her services. . .she taught me that people will tell you what they mean with their hands, not their mouths) these people live in a cullture warp, a bubble of wealth that may or may not burst soon. either way, they are not aware of it.

my husband and I travelled with skip in his gigantic van (for band travels), stopping in winter park/orlando to see satchel's family circus, pic up skip's mom and then move on to sarasota key. we would have a quick vacation at his single dad, the diamond salesman's 70's condo on the water.

let me just say: I LOVE FLORIDA IN DECEMBER. traveling there in the 1960s--empty sand dunes, exotic blooming flowers, cocktails and clubhouses--would have been my ideal time to go, but I'll take it even in hyper weird 2008. the water is so unbelievably beautiful, like liquid diamonds in the sun, so forgiving and vibrant with wildlife, . . .and it's interesting to see the difference in culture between here (land-locked, forest-hwy materialism) and there (sun-drenched, oceaned-bleached materialism).

among the stories skip's mom told me in the back of the van on our way into deeper western florida was about the children in the photograph. . .her grandchildren who I had seen ravaging wrapped presents earlier in their white living room until boredom left piles unopened. when they travel, they are each fitted with their own dvd screens and headphones in the back seat, so their individual interests can be satiated while riding. they never even have to look out the windows and see the environments in between destinations. you have to wonder what might happen to them someday, if the greater world reality ever were to bust through.

-kt

PUBLIC SPACE

2008-12-22T17:45:00.010-05:00

non-commercial public spaces are disappearing from use. . .big boxes and parking lots are our social parks now, where we brush up against each other in person. now we create public spaces online. I want to know. . . what the architecture of Facebook really looks like ?

I was invited to participate in an architecture critique recently. the students were all redesigning a local I.M.Pei building as a museum of money. (very clever assignment by professor Tim Nichols. this historic building is only 2 stories high on a block greedy for skyscrapers. this is prime real estate. small buildings waste space that could be making money. it stands just around the corner from the 615 building, which they killed two years ago, and the space still sits empty.) The design I remember the most was from a very shy young korean student. in her model, she removed the bottom floor of the building, and preserved the top as is. . . and then, she put an empty space for temporary open markets on the first floor. She made a simple yet lovely shady piazza! A place I would love to see come to fruition, especially on that corner which has dramatic spatial choreography.

But from what I can see, the developers will collaborate with I.M.Pei himself to deface his own building into a mixed use, and of course "green" mega-building. They intent to preserve "a portion" of the original. well, of course I'm skeptical. . .but I guess one can't be too critical of any attempts at preservation at this point. . . . . . . .

OWNERSHIP & TIME

2008-12-22T16:39:00.006-05:00

it's such an odd juxtaposition. . .here we are in an economic avalanche, and also an avalanche of time. . .and yet upscale advertisers like the new york times still proliferate ads for diamonds (are forever) and men's high-end wrist watches. I think that wrist watches are a particularly curious choice for promotion by madison avenue. (. . .it's something I watch. . .pun intended. . . ) it may show we are worried that time is out of control.

common people don't really wear watches anymore, we wear phones with digital clocks, we work inside the grinding guts of clocks. perhaps wrist watches are becoming that symbolic piece of jewelry, a social marker like a top hat or white gloves or a family crest. perhaps a 21st century wrist watch is that contemporary time machine: if you can afford a decorative $5,000 watch, you can alter the speed with which you move through time. you wear the insignia of the leisure class.

of course, anyone with willpower can alter time if they wish. . .drop outs abound on both ends of the scales.

but back to mainstream american reality. . .or gossip girls, or something. . .
I heard it said once by a shrewd single woman: the mark of a poor man is that he's rushing all the time. hmmm. there's some truth to that.

-kt

THE ANTI-MATERIAL MOVEMENT

2008-12-07T13:23:00.000-05:00

well, it makes sense that we would arrive here sooner or later. I mean captialism has indeed conquered the world. just at the moment that we focus so entirely on material things and their possession (down to ideas & images & colors). . .we have subconsciously invented a cavernous virtual shadow world.

In this other world, we can horde infinite invisible space seemingly without consequence. . . build storages of thoughts and images, of alternative lives and architectures. . . all of which can be pulled up at will, much better than any human kind of memory. I dare say, artists no longer need canvas to secure their identity as leading communicators & image-makers & thinkers.

At first, we have found that mundane information no longer needs to take up space in our physical world. already we are free of a lot of our little things: photo albums, notebooks, music, list of contacts, bills, resumes, art portfolios. . .we now keep all that online. up there, no storm that can wipe it out, or so we believe. . . that virtual world floats above us somewhere, decentralized and uber-safe.

we can swap or sell or release all kinds of our junk through sites like craigslist and ebay. the unwanted trash is just flying through the air. unused spaces trade by seasons. (and, driving this over-production of trash is online shopping: the mail has never carried so much crap.)

there's also the added element of speed. For a common person, to be attached to things such as a house, or a neighborhood or a culture in a particular place and time. . .these notions are no longer stable in our rapidly changing physical world. large parts of our environment may change before our eyes at any given moment. the more we reconcile with this, the healthier we can be. so, perhaps there's a class of us forming who are free from a certain burden of materiality.

this of course, may not apply to some ruling elite (the wealthy who can own their own island, gate and make permanent a landmark or a community, build their own remote mega-city or protected wilderness). For they seem to be surging ahead into a mad materialism, despite an unpredictable world economy. this foolish and endulgent focus on bling things makes them especially deaf to the cries of the Earth itself, which seems to be instigating her own share of change and unpredictability. . .upon all of us ultimately material beings.

for most of us, making-do and fixing what we have, choosing our tech very shrewdly. . .it behooves us to move in the opposite direction from extreme materiality. the internet certainly can be of help here. the lighter we are, the more free to move around, and the less space we have to pay to occupy. perhaps, in time, this sort of resulting lifestyle might create the need for more "natural" as well as non-comercial public spaces. (one of my favorite ideas is: the transformed library space of our near future. its a sort of country-wide development of large, museum scale public living rooms of knowledge. . .these places would be as frequent to find in cities as coffee shops. diverse in environment, some full of plants as well as screens and glassed in discussion rooms, designed by local artists, interior designers and architects. some "libraries" would display actual books and archives of objects. other "libraries" might be solemn and sparse, with silence policies, like secular temples for contemplation or simple urban rest).

my friend carro (local artist lillian blades' husband, exceptional collector of objects) says that the one thing that high capitalism will always produce is waste. such a wise thing to say from a man who scourges the auctions and estate sales and thrift stores for modern furniture to resell. it will be a long time until we might really de-materialize. . .and get to be bodies on a more "natural" planet. . .all our materiality gloming up that other super developed virtual world. . .

for now we have tiers and tiers of garbage people (myself included), sifting through the streams of things and spaces falling apart and being thrown away. . .looking for diamonds.

two beloved references:
both called for the re-spiritualization of contemporary society
(two totally outsider perspectives):

Alexander Solzhenitsyn (critic of soviet russia) http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=1143

Russell Means (American Indian activist and actor) http://www.russellmeans.com

-kt

BACK OF KILLERS

2008-12-06T20:56:00.001-05:00

I think criticism mostly hurts. I don' t like it so much myself when it's aimed at me. then again, if it's from someone I respect, I try to listen and see if it rings true. . .maybe it does and maybe it doesn't.

I do think that perhaps what's been getting under my skin lately about being social at this moment in time, is its unbearable lightness, and its speed . . .we're watching each other look at where we're going and what we're doing, who we're doing it with. we find ourselves in psychically tight corners. like a crowded elevator, this is not a place for intensity.

perhaps criticism is inappropriate in a communications world of immediate responses, of friend-building, easy feedback and close virtual quarters . . .this only makes us inclined to be more polite, or more coy. and perhaps that is the right response. . .with the potential to be unfair, to be on the record, to be harsh in a way that the target of the criticism does not return. . .why bother? but, then again what is a society that is not particularly critical--or honest-- with each other? at least sometimes? I suppose we have to look for appropriate places for criticality, and still be extra careful?

or have I just been living in the south too long?

-kt

KILLERS

2008-12-06T20:49:00.001-05:00

RADICAL WORLDS, SAME PLANET

2008-12-03T10:05:00.000-05:00

what is it going to feel like to be old in the 21st century? . . . well, I kinda already know. . .how it feels to let that next big wave of new technologies, of hyper online fashionistas crash overhead and leave you entirely behind. . . for to have longeivity in this system, one must be fluent in tech, a rapidly changing language of testosterone and youth, surface information, popularity, fast graphics, and accessibility. one must also have the patience and energy to learn how to do the things you already knew how to do, in an entirely new way, over, and over, and over. it's humbling and refreshing and exhausting. . .for as long as we're willing to play, it will keep us unusually young into old age.

( I'm wondering, then, how culture might divide into certain zones of maturity. . .where do those with overarching wisdom fit in to this glocal human situation? well, I certainly know, I'm always looking for good teachers. meaningful elder life advisors and actual role models are hard to come by. we are emancipated from the strict bindery of so many traditions, but it's also a lonely, demanding highway out there without firm voices of authority and guidance. although our bodies may become less relevant as we live more and more of our lives online, age & death is still an innevitability. we still look to those ahead of us to guide us along. age is not just a pejorative thing, it's a resource.

a first foreshadowing of death in our culture, is that moment when a participating citizen just completely stops making the effort to keep up with current tech. could happen for some at 20. . .others at 40, 60, 80. for some it's a slow process, for others gradual.

I suppose seniors of my generation will fill up significant virtual space with their nostalgic laments, their cheezy conformist snapshots, their endless 80s music. . . .will others lurk and laugh?

me, I hope that I'll be that old mountain lady, or desert-mountain lady: long hair, mystical eyes, tatered lace & cowboy boots, library full of kick-ass books and objects & plants, a fast computer at a large wooden desk, a view of the sunset, an eletromagnetic travel device. I'll be in communication with other contemporary edge dwellers around the globe, plus the spirits, the rocks, and the animals. its a nice dream. . .wonder what will actually happen?

(I like the description of that old lady katy thompson cory, life-long photographer of the hopi indians. she dropped out of high society nyc in her youth (1908), hopped on a train to the west and never came back. they say she wore ripped up dirty old lace. . .she was that old lady in donny darko checking the mail, that invented a time machine, she was a person elegently walking between radically different worlds, both oddly on the same planet.)

-kt

LIVE THEATRE

2008-12-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE, THE PLAY! from twinhead theatre played all weekend to full houses at the altered eyedrum space. because I was working the event, worried about the financial survival of the old eye, I saw the play 4 times, delightfully.

I must say that theatre productions are the things I have enjoyed the best at eyedrum this year.

a particular brand of atl actors keep showing up at eyedrum and bring a unique spirit to the place. this excites me. the play has multiple potential outcomes, was written and directed by quorum and as steve westdahl noted. . .the backstack area was equal in volume to the front stage.

I laughed out loud. . .I could tell the audience enjoyed the baffoonery, the un-pc costumes, the ridiculous adult content, the bad puns. it's my complaint that theatre in atlanta too often resorts to slapstick humor, which generally bores the shit out of me: it's a 2 year old standing up and falling down continuously cracking itself up while everyone watches laboriously. but the twinhead humor was more characer driven, although plenty juvenile, and the acting was generally very good, very direct. at times the content went beyond low-end entertainment and humorous mockery. . . it made comment on fundamentalist religion, the numbskull humanity of our historical past, misuse of power, fertility of high technology, and the tedious, random role of choicemaking in our contemporary existence.

again, talking to steve westdahl, the man with the best mustache in atlanta (he also makes a damn good clown, and does good yard art ). . .we mentioned the "downturn" (that much lighter, less permanant economic burp, not to be confused with a full blown culture-changing economic depression. . .) and its effect on local arts. we need art more now than ever, to be a relief from the professional reality of a "downturned" economy. . .and a reason to gather together under the protective distracting umbrella of human creativity. steve seems to think that this atmosphere of penny-pinching and economic stress will trigger a return to affordable art, out of necessity. . .of course, he's an actor, and is seeing how affordable local theatre has a new role to play. fine art may be a different story (more on that later). . .and frankly I'm inclined to jump on the bandwagon of artistic fiction (live theatre) for a while. I can see that it suits our times very well.

-kt

GAMBIARRA - the Brazilian word for MAKE DO

2008-11-29T16:21:00.000-05:00

I spent 2 weeks in new orleans this october helping to design a satellite event for the nascent biennial prospect.1. I agree that economic depression sure does something wonderful for bohemia. new orleans sparkles in it's make-do, post-katrina karisma. that it's been abandoned by the gentrifyers, the ikeas, the mcmansions and the 21st century suburban shopping centers, is its saving grace. venture capitalists see it as infertile and risky. insurance for property is ridiculously high. it hardly even has a market. . .it survives because of its vibrant art-filled culture composed of extreme characters and romantic materiality rotting away in the swamp. the people who are now drawn to it as it awaits it's future, have something other than money on their minds. to me it is an urban refuge which I am grateful to have rediscovered at this critical moment in history. . .and it's only 7 hours from the ATL.

I like the word gambiarra. it is a portuguese term which means to make-do with on-the-fly grace and resourcefulness. it's a true contemporary art. being a sometimes starving artist myself, I know it takes great character to stay positive, make stylish decisions, socialize and make art on zero budget. to be the ousider who solves problems with naive creative zeal despite also sometimes scraping or cheating to get what you need, or doing entirely without, without apology. meanwhile the parade of bells & whistles appear across every billboard, judgementally. . .every moving screen screams happily, every new upscale subdivision promotes a stale unsustainable dream. until recently in our culture, to make-do connoted failure. . .but in sao paulo, brazil, a "mega-city," a future of extreme capitalism. . . "gambiarra" is a commonly used compliment. . .in a place where the well-to-do drive armored suv's, and land private helicoptors on top of buildings to avoid the chaos and depression of the common streets.

-kt

RESPIRITUALIZED MODERNISM.

2008-11-28T18:04:00.000-05:00

I like to picture the future full of gardens! old parking lots filled with planned wildernesses. . . empty lots glassed in and left to become, once again, natural.

this image is from my latest body of work: everything disappears! it's an altered ad from a recent new york times magazine. inside a perfectly corporate piece of architecture, separated above the jungle. . .I made ghosts out of two suited professionals who gazed over their dominion, and also removed the tag line which was: Us & Them. . .

here are a few personalized definitions:

natural: (not unlike the word/concept --sacred)
that thing or space that has been untouched by human manipulation for a significant period of time.

supernatural that which is more than natural (the prefix-super means above and over, greater than, beyond, outside, transcending). . .and what, then is that? . . .high technology of an entirely beyond human nature.

spirituality: an individual's relationship to the unknown.

-kt

PROPHESY IN THE URBAN FOREST

2008-11-26T12:01:00.000-05:00

I had a thought yesterday, that I should have named this blog 21ST CENTURY MYSTIC. wonder if that's already taken. . .

I think my lifetime will witness the re-spiritualization of industrialized society. it would be nice to design the magic back in, be inclusive of the mysterious beliefs and traditions of the global south/3rd world, as they merge with us in this one-world info network. it would also be nice to be inclusive of our ancient ancesters, who we are learning have a lot to teach us about our relationshiop to the earth. the attached 3-d image is by artist Adam Bruneau. It's lovely the way the red, green and blue are out of registration, kind of like early 20th cent litho illustrations. the more out of register, the more I can see the invisible in the image. cool.

I once saw what I would say was a ghost in a throw away photograph. I was at a friend's house, and they were showing me rather mundane snapshots (real prints & not a flicker site) and then there were some mistakes prints at the end of the stack. I looked into one of the blurred photographs, and a figure became clear. . .a woman in a bun carrying a basket ( of laundry? ) up the stairs, looked like the same stairs that I could see in front of me from their living room. ?? I cannot explain it.

there is hardly a line which distinquishes the imagination from intuition. I wonder: which trigger which? in fact in order to see the invisible past or future, to tap into innate human psychic ability, one must begin with the gift of imagination.

perhaps with the speeding up of our shared sense of time (due to a mad race of technology), we will be thrust beyond an age of science. Logic is too slow for our world. who has time to go through proper scientific processes other than serious professionals in labs? everyday people coping with a rather fast reality are now beaconed-- or rather rushed long--to take leaps of intuition in order to make daily choices. slow contemplation, consideration, logic: they are for the stuborn luddites and a few post-colonial elites who still maintain the luxury of timely pursuits. (ubiquitous ads in the new york times publications promote men's wrist watches, as well as diamonds for the ladies. . .it indicates something symbolic. madison ave has invented an expensive fetish out of the old-fashioned wrist watches, roman numerals and all. . .in the 21st century, those who wear thousand dollar wrist watches, hand them down to their sons as the ads sometimes illustrate, have control in that old-fashioned, leisurely sense of time. . .wrist watches are the new top hat.)

-kt

SMALL GROUPS

2008-11-24T13:19:00.000-05:00

this photograph is from a found photo album that I inhereited from someone else's junk pile (it's a bunch of dudes in mcdonalds baseball uniforms, gleefully drinkin' company sponsored beer). . .regretfully, I passed the album along to the thrift store before I realized how valuable it was as a whole. . .but this was one of the photographs I did keep. . .kind of says it all about corporate conformity. (my dad, too was a gung-ho corpo-bot. . .afraid to show too much of his own identity at work, and always wearing corporate logos at home. . .I don't think the man owned a sweater without a TEXACO logo on it.)

needless to say, I recently joined facebook. . .and it strikes me that now it's easier than ever to be light and distant friends with a whole lot of people. . .but this kind of friendship--or I guess networking is a more appropriate word--this is something that really confronts a person like me.

I do my best and am most myself in intimate, intense relationships. I like one-on-one contact the best. . . and I also enjoy rather small groups. participation in large anonymous groups like walking down a crowded foreign city street. . .is rather nice sometimes. but being in a kind of mega-social group. . .makes me uneasy, is unbearable light. perhaps it's because like so many of us who grew up in the suburbs, I lived without proper public social space (piazzas, parks, cafe's). . . and without access to virtual social spaces. my generation was accustomed to isolation. it was good for the imagination, good for character building, good for contemplation and tv-overload, good for getting fat. . .we were out of the practice of being friendly in a very light and flexible way that is now achievable online. no dire consequences, no face-to-face intensity. . .just virtual humans buzzing like absent-minded flies around the web.

my first experience being online was in 1994. I was so excited. . .I thought: I can now communicate with others mind-to-mind. . .no bodies in the way. . .I wanted to be a part of the revolution which would overthrow petty small talk and connect brains straight up. I thought I would meet the most cutting edge thinkers and mental explorers, people who wanted to change the world, invent a new society, dream together. . .and then I actually got online. . .in those days, you joined chat rooms. at $5.95/an hour I surfed around idealistically, expensively on my sluggish black and white laptop. and, what I found, were a lot of sex-hungry idiots screaming in ALL CAPS! reading group discussions always included lovecraft and king. I did not get lucky enough and certainly was not savvy to find at least one satisfying small group to be a part of. . .had to wait a decade for that. . .and kind of still looking.

-kt

GREEN PAINT

2008-11-21T11:42:00.000-05:00

SKELETONS

2008-11-20T12:54:00.000-05:00

the SKELETONS played last night at eyedrum, sharing the bill strangely with APG poetry readings. everything was late, late, late, but they gave an inspirational show to about 20 people (a classic eyedrum small crowd). . .the bass player looked great in a sparkling blue dress. we partied later with naz at amy's house, nearby. . .ate sweet potato pie, talked and laughed. . .and sooner or later, the spray cans came out.

you see we live in a neighborhood being oppressed by a yuppie's version of paradise. . .we don't even have to live in a loft, to experience the stiff corporate monoculture that patrols this place, an old bohemian stomping ground. . .the professionals have become serious about graffiti. . . they removed a major landmark of public expression: the cabbagetown wall is now all one cheerful green color. this green paint has even migrated imperialistically out of the neighborhood onto walls, garbage canisters and empty buildings in adjacent areas. "a safe neighborhood is a clean neighborhood" is announced in the neghborhood newsletter. and now we live next to a 1/4-mile, green reminder of who is in control of our neighborhood. we all have to look like martha stewart's living room, or some dumbed down corpo version of it. . .ho hum.

so we went out all 6 of us, and decorated the wall in question for a while. . .diamonds & money signs. . .corpo-norm, llamas, metallica, some cool drawings. . .and then the cops came and made a big to-do of lights, arrested 3 of the skeletons randomly. . .cuffed amy and I but then let us go (?). took them to jail & fined them $753 each. it was all very sobering. we followed our friends in the paddy wagon to a gas station parking lot where they parked for a long time, laughed, bought snacks. amy got out of the cozy travel van and filmed them with her digital camera. a very fashionable, crazed black woman (brown fur coat, white plaid hoody) sent us dagger looks through the front windshield, gesticulated and argued profusely with the freezing air. her battle was perfectly juxtaposed.

they will intimidate all unofficial, unauthorized artistic expression out of this city, might as well live in a gated subdivision. (and what kind of art can be made in that environment? ) officer wolf had no humor; this is his beat. "it's his baby," another arresting officer put it. . .they also mentioned no less than 3 times that they've been furloughed (10% pay cuts). another officer, who was much more cynical and talkative at the precinct said mayor shirley franklin will do whatever it takes to be "in the black" when she leaves office. 3 x $753 ain't bad. I walked over to see the wall just an hour ago, and all the artwork was gonzo. I watched two chubby women in sweats walk away with buckets of green paint. . . .they are in control, no doubt about it. and, I am back in high school again.

what does this mean? it means we have to be a lot more stealth if we want to publish in that spot. . . .ho hum.

it also means atlanta is gonzo, before it ever fully bloomed.

-kt

beautiful sadness! -- the cult of positivity

2008-11-19T11:42:00.000-05:00

I think sad is beautiful!!!!

I'm for more sad in art, we need to get it out. . .this world is changing. . .things are dying, new things replace them. . .and not all of them are very cool at all. damnit. . .it's ok to express melancholy.

it's the way I feel a whole lot. and, it's not surprising really. it's healthy to be sad sometimes, despite the pressures from the cult of positivity. in my experience, growing up in the deep american suburbs of the 80s & 90s, positivity is a coping mechanism. . .but also a way to oppress those who struggle against total assimilation into the monoculture. but it might be healthier to let people express their sadness over the loss of more diverse, less commercial subcultures, and the loss of unmanufactured space. . .progress is good AND awful, both. in a progress-only world, a lot of invisible constituents are forced deeper into invisibility. . .(more on that later)

I recently installed a billboard on the side of my house in cabbagetown. . .in response to the sad, sad "cleaning" of the c'town wall, a symbol of territory ownership by the professionals who gentrify this place. the image, posted above, is a sad one, but also beautiful. . .in the tradition of opera, drama & requiems. sadness, which a lot of people feel right now, is important to acknowledge. billboards are our most common form of public art. . .and most all of it is advertising (images with words, almost never - images only). Large public advertising for the most part is exceedingly HAPPY! when one feels sad, looking at screaming smiles sure can be antagonistic.

just talked to louise shaw last night, about the line between positivity/unquestioning acceptance of corpo-norms (the currrent norm of the american mainstream), and outright foolish denial. thin line, indeed.

-kt

corpo-norm

2008-11-18T19:13:00.000-05:00

everything disappears!

2008-11-18T18:53:00.000-05:00

EVERYTHING DISAPPEARS. . .it's my mantra. (like others before)

it's a philosophy of acceptance. our world changes so fast, it's as if things are appearing and disappearing before my eyes. I am an artist, a designer, a thinker. . .I'm a good observer. . .I live in a very mainstream corporate city. . .a sort of cultural battlefield, a provincial town struggling for (imaginal) international acceptance. . .a little high on the hope of it. . .our optimism is sometimes blinding. I would love to live somewhere else. . .but for now I am here, watching everythingdisappear in the urban forest!

. . .

I started a blog today, because I need a place to publish my thoughts & opinions, let off steam, practice my voice.

word of the day is: corpo-norm. I went to a well-meaning art event last night--over 400 artists applying for $1500. we sat while the presenter told us how special we are, that curators and gate-keepers are very curious to discover the artists in atlanta. and this is how they will meet us. . .through an on-line bureaucratic form, a standardized resume (the ole C.V) and 8 jpegs. not very southern at all. . .

I often wonder why we want to turn all activities into a profession. . .I'm rather starting to dislike the word.

(more on that later)

ciao! -kt